I learnt a new word the other day-FEMICIDE: the murder of the human female. To my horror this can be: infanticide (the killing of an infant), the murder of a little girl under five, the killing of a schoolgirl, the killing of a teenager or the killing of a woman and all because of their female sex. But there is more to this and that is female FETICIDE the abortion of a fetus for no other reason other than the unborn child is female. Can humanity steep any lower than femicide?

The forced abortions of female fetuses is another example of technology being used not for the good of humanity, in this case the ultra sound, but for evil purpose. Feticide occurs in many countries and bad as it is, the killing or neglect of female babies to the point of death is, in my opinion, barbaric.

After the disgusting rape and murder of the Indian medical student at the end of 2012 there has been much in the press about the rights of Indian women and it was then that I came across the work of Rita Banerji founder of the 50 Million Missing Campaign. — from this I learn that honor killings ,’witch’ killings, and dowry murders are yet other examples of the brutality met out to women. In three generations it is estimated that 50 million females are missing from India’s population.

My internet research however has shown that femicide is not just a problem in the Indian subcontinent, but China, Vietnam, Latin America and many other countries.

Why has this come about? It seems the desire for a male child is as old as life itself. Boys become men who can labour on the land, can fight in wars and families do not have to pay dowries for husbands. The desire for smaller families and in particular the one child policy in some countries, has skewed the sex ratio to the extent there are now millions of young men who will never find a lifetime partner and have families of their own. This will only increase the violence against women. Organised crime is involved in: bride trafficking, kidnapping of girls and trafficking them around countries and between countries for the sex industry.

Soroptimistsaround the world have been fighting to reduce violence against women for many, many years; it’s evident there is still much to do.

World leaders need to deal with this demographic nightmare scenario quickly or unrest will surely follow. Those of us who are aware of the problem , because many are not, need to talk about it among our friends, our colleagues …. tell the world, until something is done to put an end to these shameful practices.

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‘THE DEAD DON’T HURT US’, as said by street children who often hide in the
cemeteriesof theworld,is a fast-moving, hard-hitting, contemporary adventure story based in the hot and dangerous Amazon jungle and the Peruvian city of Iquitos.

Wilberforce would be shocked to know that we have still the terrible crime of one human being enslaving another. Today’s modern-day slavery is a bit different from the time of the great abolitionist because instead of able-bodied men forced to work as labourers, 70% of the enslaved are women and 50% are children; by far the majority of these are imprisoned in the sex industry. Human trafficking is on the increase and fast becoming one the most lucrative organised crimes in the world.

One of the great things about the internet and social media is that there is a huge potential for good. Organisations and ordinary men and women who are disgusted by trafficking and enslavement can use the internet to raise awareness of the problem .

If you haven’t seen CNN’s ‘Not My Life’ then you must . CNN Freedom Project has spent several years researching and highlighting trafficking across the world ; the film is a product of this work.

‘Nefarious Merchant of Souls’ is another must see. It is currently being shown around the UK and other parts of the world. The viewer learns that human trafficking is happening in every part of the globe.

I can’t believe it’s so long since my last post ! Over the summer I decided to take a break from blogging; I was busy working on my second novel and something had to give — so the blog had to take a back seat. With the return of the dark nights here in the northern hemisphere it is much easier to spend time on the computer.

Over the years I’ve come to realise how important education is, in the life of girls in particular. I attended a small country primary school (13 on the roll)and for seven years I had the same teacher. She saw the potential in me and encouraged me;often I think of how different my life would have been if my teacher had been second-rate. I would never have gone to university without that great start to my education.

In other parts of the world girls are often denied an education because of poverty or early marriage.( Every three seconds another child becomes a bride!)

Take a look at this video ‘Give Girls a Voice‘ which has been released to mark the first International Day of the Girl.

The video was produced by ‘The Elders.’ an organisation founded by Nelson Mandela.

Photo: Martii Ahtisaari,Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu just some of the elders.

Soroptimists work to educate /empower/enable girls around the world knowing that educating a girl in the developing world reduces: poverty, family size,spread of HIV, domestic violence, the numbers of children abandoned to life on the street and much more.

October 11th is ‘The International day of the Girl’ please tell your friends. Reducing child marriages and increasing the educational opportunities for girls will make the world a better place for all of us.

In the run up to the Olympics, this award-winning documentary on modern-day sexual slavery was screened at various venues around the UK . Six members of SI Dundee attended the local screening. This hard-hitting film was produced by Ben Nolot, founder of Exodus Cry. The film reminded us that trafficking is the fasted growing organised crime in the world, with estimates of over 27 million people enslaved (UN) and 2 million children caught up in the international sex trade ( UNICEF ).

I found this film really shocking, but an excellent piece of work by the production team. Humanity can no longer bury its head in the sand and say this not happening because it is ! I wonder how may women actually choose prostitution as a way of life as has been implied in the past? I would suggest, especially after watching this film and the CNN documentary ‘Not My Life’, very few indeed!! The sex workers are victims!

I am very glad to see that the Christian community is beginning to stand up to this evil . Modern day slavery is worse and affects more people than the slave trade that William Wilberforce worked so hard to abolish in the eighteenth century.

And what of the children caught up in the sex trade: over 2 million according to UNICEF. So sad that humanity fails to protect its children from the thousands of predators out there. I was deeply disturbed to discover in ‘Nefarious’ that in some circumstances parents fail to protect their young and will sell them to traffickers not to feed the rest of the family, but to improve the comfort of their home!

The reason this film has been circulating around the UK just before the Olympics is that it has been shown that thousands of sex workers are trafficked to major sporting events. The criminal world wants to income generate too!

Films like ‘Nefarious’, and the UN GIFT Boxes placed around London, I hope will educate the public about this awful crime. Hopefully our legislators will take note and make the UK a very difficult country for traffickers to work.

A wonderful season full of new life and hope; it is no surprise that Easter falls in this season. We have been very busy on our wee farm this last month. Our small flock of Jacob’s sheep has provided us with twenty-nine new lambs. The weather has been wonderfully kind this year to these young lives. It has been delightful to see the lambs stretch out in the grass, toasting themselves in the unseasonable warmth of the sun or just to watch as the energetic youngsters bound around the field in the evening … springtime!

Just gorgeous!

Frequently I help the ewe as she births, especially with the bigger lambs. Every live birth is just amazing , even to me at my age! You cannot help but think about God and His amazing creation. The ewe instinctively starts to lick her young, drying the little creature to prevent it succumbing to the cold and then she gently nudges the lamb onto its feet and in the direction of her life-giving milk; those first few mouthfuls of colostrum can mean the difference between life and death to a newborn. All the while her womb contracts and out pops numbers two and then sometimes three!

New arrivals

In the field the mother looks after her own little family intently. If another’s lamb tries to feed from her by mistake a ‘non too’ gentle dunt sends the offending youngster in the direction of its own food source!

We had two little guys who were in very poor condition at birth; they were too weak to raise their heads off the straw, so no chance that they would be able to suckle from their mother. We had to give them colostrum via a tube,down their throats, into their stomachs; we didn’t hold out much hope for them but my husband and I persevered, feeding them three hourly at the start. The ‘boys’ Spot and Dean are now three weeks old and bounding around the paddock! You can imagine how much pleasure this has given us, but our grandchildren just love to come and see our new lambs; the special treat, of course, is to feed Spot and Dean.

Perfect siblings

Spring is the fantastic season when we see God’s wonderful creation burst into activity but Easter is when we see God’s love in action.

God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life. John 3 V 16 NLT

Today I watched a harrowing video about street kids in the Ukraine called The Neglected . It was directed by David Gillanders a photojournalist from Glasgow. I was almost moved to tears by what I saw. Kids as young as eight years old living in the sewers: starved, malnourished, ill, drug abusing, abandoned, frightened, kids living in gangs, like packs of animals.

It reminded me of my motives for writing my novel ‘The Dead Don’t Hurt Us’( Street kids often hide in lonely cemeteries). In the book I wrote a fictional account of children hiding in the sewers but David’s black and white pictures are so real, so shocking that I felt myself asking all over again why is this allowed to happen? Of course it is not just in the Ukraine, it is in every continent of the world; the cause poverty!

There will be those who ask ‘Why does God allow this to happen?’ Surely the question is ‘Why does humanity treat its young in this shocking way?’

I visit: schools, libraries, church groups and others in Scotland giving talks about my book and my reasons for writing it; to let my readers know about poverty and the life of the street child. Watching David’s film has spurred me on to shout louder! The profits from the sale of my book, paperback and e book go to street children’s charities.

So take a look at David Gillanders film; it will shock you but you need to know, to be able to do something to help!

The documentary Neglected will be broadcast on Channel 4, Thursday 22nd March 12 midnight

Later this week some of my Soroptimist friends are coming round for supper; I’m a member of the local club. You might wonder who are Soroptimists? Soroptimist comes from the latin and means ‘wanting the best for our sisters’. We are part of Soroptimist International, a worldwide women’s organisation working to improve the rights and lives of women and girls. The views of Soroptimists are even heard at the United Nations.

After supper I’m showing my friends the CNN Freedom Project video ‘Not My Life’ because I want them to realise that slavery and trafficking still exist and it’s not always in another country or somebody else’s problem.

News of the thousands of trafficked people to the US Superbowl last year raises the prospect that many may well be trafficked to the Olympics in London. Hopefully our police forces will be well aware of this and so prevent thousands of women and girls from being moved into London to income generate for criminal gangs.

Who are the trafficked in the UK? Usually they are from poor communities in Eastern Europe or Africa but they can also be girls moved within the UK. What does it matter, after all they are just prostitutes? This of course is why so many of these girls are failed by the authorities because they are seen as illegal immigrants, or sex workers but in reality they are the victims and we must stand up for them.

UN.Gift Box is an initiative I have just learnt about: throughout London the UN will have large boxes, with ribbons on top, enticing people to look into them, but inside will be information about trafficking. GIFT (Global initiative to Fight Trafficking) is a project giving communities the chance to raise awareness of trafficking at the 2012 Olympics. For this project GIFT is partnered with Stop the Traffik.

So things are beginning to happen in an attempt to stop this terrible violation of fellow human beings, but let’s hope there is much more to come.